The apparatus of the present invention is of the same general type as the apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,553, and like the apparatus described in that patent, it is intended to process photographic film through the various steps of a multi-step process. The apparatus is particularly intended for the fully automatic processing of color photographic film, and the particular embodiment of the invention to be described comprises a color photographic film processing apparatus.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,553, photographic color film may be developed by continuous or batch procedures. In the batch procedure, certain well established development schedules are followed, which require the transfer of the film from one tank to another after a predetermined immersion time in each tank under exactly controlled conditions. Manual color film processing procedures are lengthy and time consuming, and require constant attention by the film processing individual.
Many attempts, accordingly, have been made in the past to develop automatic film processing apparatus, which automatically performs the functions of moving the film from one processing tank to another, and for causing the film to be immersed in the various processing tanks for the proper time intervals. The apparatus of the prior art, however, has proven to be relatively rigid in its processing parameters, and difficult to operate.
It is, accordingly, a primary object of the present invention to provide such automatic film processing apparatus which may be operated in a simple manner requiring no particular skill or lengthy attention on the part of the operator, and which is capable of a wide variety of processing parameters.